Ogun government reduces ground rent by 67%

The Ogun State Government has slashed by 67 per cent the ground rent for Base Transceiver Stations owned by IHS.

The Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, while speaking at the NigeriaCom conference in Lagos, said this was made possible by the intervention of the commission.

As such, he said the Ogun State Government had agreed to the reduction of the ground rent for the BTS from N360m to N120m in favour of the firm.

According to the NCC chairman, about 47 base stations shut down by some government agencies across the country were unsealed through its mediation.

“As part of our intervention efforts to create an enabling environment, the commission engaged the Ogun State Government and was able to secure the reduction of ground rent for Base Transceiver Stations from N360m to N120m in favour of IHS, as well as the unsealing of 47 BTS shut down by some government agencies across the country,” Durojaiye said.

In Kano State, he said the commission was able to resolve the Right of Way issue involving two major federal roads between the state government and MTN for the deployment of infrastructure.

Durojaiye appealed to all other states and local governments to cooperate with operators in the telecoms industry.

He added that the commission was working to sponsor a “Telecommunications Critical Infrastructure Bill’ which will rank telecoms infrastructure as critical infrastructure.”

He acknowledged that the RoW was one of the major problems affecting infrastructure deployment by telecoms operators, adding that the commission would not relent in finding a lasting solution to the menace.

Other challenges, according to NCC chairman, are multiple taxation/regulation, arbitrary and indiscriminate charges, vandalism of telecom infrastructure and poor power supply.

“These are obstacles hindering the achievement of 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018. But we will not relent,” he added.

The Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Mr Gbenga Adebayo, had recently called on the Federal Government to issue an executive order declaring telecom infrastructure as critical national security and economic infrastructure, as prescribed in the Cybercrime Act, 2015.

According to him, this is in recognition of the important role the sector plays in socioeconomic development and security of the country.

“Our industry supports many other economic sectors of the economy. We are also the first layer of critical infrastructure for socioeconomic development and security. It is pertinent to state that unless telecoms facilities have first level of protection by government, it will be difficult to provide uninterrupted services to the citizenry,” he said.

He added, “We commend the Nigerian Communications Commission for being in the forefront of making sure that the ease of doing business is achieved by all stakeholders in the industry.”